Leighton Cuthbert swung from his ladder and leaned into an open bedroom window to grab a credit card, which he used to buy pizza and phone calls.

But the episode was captured on camera by a neighbour, who grew suspicious of the time it was taking 30-year-old Cuthbert to clean three panes of glass.

Andrew Mitchell , who lives opposite, took out his mobile phone and started recording the burglary.

âIt took him 20 times longer to clean the window than it should have done, which I thought was a bit strange,â said Mr Mitchell, 57.

âHe was a chancer because the windows were slightly open. He goes about it quite brazenly and was up and down the ladder like a yo-yo.

âIt was not until afterwards that I realised what I had captured. The police could not believe how stupid he was.â

Customer Adrian Neal, 57, cancelled his credit card after the burglary in August last year but not before Cuthbert spent Â£150, including Â£42 at Dominoâs Pizza. Mr Neal said: âI thought it was the window cleaner but I could not prove it until my neighbour said he had the video.â

Cuthbert, of Telford, was jailed for 14 months at Shrewsbury crown court after pleading guilty to one charge of burglary and five charges of fraud.